Social Influence

Charles Koch, Racial Animus, Critical Race Theory Furor, and What to Do About It


Okay, we all knew that this is just the Tea Party astroturf 2.0. But, these folks have traced the money and have the receipts. This is clear evidence that there is a knowing coordinated effort to plunge MAGA Nation into mass psychosis and set the stage for real violence to be committed before, during, and after the 2022 elections by those on the right.

This is the thing that gets to me: all the hand wringing and wondering out loud about what’s going wrong in the Republican Party and what it is they want. It is simple. They’ve been bought and paid for as have Manchin and Sinema and probably several other Democratic national politicians. If you need any evidence look no further than two ass scratching moments in media this week:

  • Fox News “allowing” Tucker Carlson to broadcast a series on the 6 January Insurrection being a false flag operation. Many pundits have punditted their confusion about how the Murdoch’s could allow such a thing to happen. Really? They want this to happen because they no longer want us to live in a democracy. They are actively undermining our democracy by stoking the fear and anger in the right.
  • The Wall Street Journal published an op-lie piece by the Ol’ Pussy Grabber using his empty writing thing filled with all his delusional lies about the stolen election and how he actually won. The clearest expression of narcissistic wound binding yet and the surest sign that Trump will never give up on the Big Lie no matter what happens. Again, the punditing class of pundits just scratches their collective asses and wonders why their collective fingers stink of collective shit. How could a respectable publication like The Wall Street Journal publish LIES!?! Because they no longer care whether we live in a democracy or not, and they do what they’re paid to do.

Fuck, y’all, this ain’t hard to figure out. Everyone who lines up with furthering the destruction of our democracy by catering to Trump, the GQP, and the Big Lie wants an autocracy. It is as simple as that. In fact, the protestations that are coming out of the MSM and the cable news networks seems to be proverbial protesting too much, me thinks.

So, it is clear that there really is a “mastermind” group behind the use of the authoritarian propaganda playbook who is pushing the useful idiots to line up and play their roles. It is clear that the goal is to create this single-party pseudo-democratic minority-rule autocracy that will quickly and efficiently transfer the nation’s wealth to the one percent, all them to intimidate all rivals, and duke it out with China as they divvy up the remainder of the world’s natural resources. It is fucking clear that this is the case, right? If you think it isn’t, please present a cogent counter-argument in the comments, okay?

The only question is how do we stop them? We stop them by recruiting from the rank and vile of MAGA Nation. We have to go after their base even as they are being radicalized before our eyes. We stop them by holding on to the iNdEpEnDeNt VoTeR. We stop them by doing our best to counter the racial animus and angst-ridden demagoguery that “convinces” suburban white people to vote for the GQP one more time to protect us from the criminal Black and Brown element.

It is hard, but it means engaging with your friends, relatives, and acquaintances who are either in MAGA Nation, an “independent,” or a pissing and moaning about the ineptitude of Biden and Dems liberal.

It means refraining from participating in the further sportsification of our politics by trashing talking the other side and posting memes and thinking that we are #Resistancing the destruction of our democracy. We have to participate in our politics by realizing that politics means recruiting votes for your candidates and policies from wherever you can get them.

Votes aren’t recruited through arguing and condemning the other side. They are recruited by emphasizing that we are all one America and we rise and fall together. We find common ground and emphasize that government can work for us… if it didn’t, would they be working this hard to privatize all of the government services? We connect with other voters by relating to them as human beings.

We are that desperate. A year ago, I thought that the iNdEpEnDeNt VoTeR got it and would wash the GQP out in a blue wave election. We squeaked through with bare majorities in Congress and the Presidency. White people voted for Republicans and the Ol’ Pussy Grabber, AGAIN! And, the GQP is gearing up to do it one more time in 2022. They are dog whistling up some white racial angst with their “war” on school boards and CRT, and white people are falling in line right behind it, AGAIN.

It is up to us to keep our democracy. We can’t rely on corporate America, they’ll tolerate any government that allows them to make profits. We can’t rely on the Democratic Party because they still can’t believe that the Repubes mean to destroy our democracy even after the last twenty years of concerted effort. We can’t rely on white people and low-information voters to come to suddenly realize what is happening and vote the right way.

None of it will happen without a sustained effort by us. We have to join Indivisible groups, go to mass protests, work on GoTV efforts, work on political campaigns, post honest clear information on social media, go to school board and city council meetings, subscribe to local media, be aware of our local politics, and contact our government officials. These things are all crucial if we are going to save our democracy.


The Radical Capitalist Behind the Critical Race Theory Furor

How a dark-money mogul bankrolled an astroturf backlash.

Jasmine Banks AUGUST 13, 2021

Once again, the forces of capitalism are harnessing racism to do their dirty work.

More than 25 states have introduced legislation or taken other action that, backers claim, is aimed at banning “critical race theory” (CRT) from schools and government programs. Several states have already passed these bills, and discussion on this topic leads Fox News every night.

The common story about this surge of action is that this is a new “Tea Party” moment—a genuine uprising by grassroots Americans who are furious about CRT and demanding action from their state legislatures. But that story ignores the clear influence of a carefully built campaign by the network of radical free-market capitalist think tanks and action groups supported by billionaire businessman Charles Koch and his late brother David.


Continue reading on The Nation: The Radical Capitalist Behind the Critical Race Theory Furor


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20 replies »

  1. I’m a resident of the Kochs’s home state, and I am afraid (well, as afraid as an older person who has less to lose with each year) that it is more than possible, less than likely that the actions for which you call will be too late. I say this because we worked hard (and people here are still working hard) to counteract this back in the 90s just before the Tea Party, and our work gets ignored or quashed. I’m still in on whatever can be done, and I’m also more than willing to feed those younger than I who can better do the work. I have a but but I don’t want to articulate it and cause despair. I’m not yet despairing, just saying it’s very late in the process. My .02.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Howdy Ali!

      I get that it is very late in the process and the miasma is thicker and denser this time around than it was in the Tea Party daze. The way I see it is that there are two choices: (1) Deprogram MAGA Nation to deny the Koch Bros et al. their cannon fodder or (2) actually divide the nation into two or more countries.

      Right now, we are a failed state. Our government doesn’t work. Our society doesn’t work. When one side refuses to participate, the group fails. It is as simple as that. Our only choice now is how do we manage the failure and what comes after.

      The Virginia election showed the weakness of offering social programs and government services that will tangibly and directly improve people’s lives when the other side offers them something much more intoxicating, indulging their inner racist. The Virginia race had its highest turn out ever both candidates received more votes than any other in their party. The CRT racist dog whistle called the independent white voters home.

      Our history of trying to make nice with them, shows the futility of it. Those white people won’t confront their inner selves. They’ll always respond to this empty rhetoric and the GQP is enacting laws that are actively dismantling our democracy.

      Huzzah!
      Jack

      Liked by 1 person

  2. It occurs that while we can look to NAZI Germany for the roots of our fever ~ I would argue it’s the same fever ~ we can’t look there for how to get past it. Germany got past its fever under occupation by a conquering force. None of which matters much …

    The wildcard nobody’s still not paying any attention to is our rapidly deteriorating atmosphere.

    When I was making bad bat and beer jokes I usually fitted a “or thawed out of the thawing tundra viri who haven’t seen a human since before we were human …” The changes we are facing, in what remains of our lifetimes, have not been seen by humans. All of these little political game-playings are going to pale signifigantly.

    Maybe the Neanderthal …

    Liked by 2 people

    • Howdy Ten!

      The rich just assume that whatever happens they will have the wealth to cope with it and maintain themselves in the lifestyle that they have become accustomed. And, like Marie Antoinette before them, they may find that there are some things that money just can’t buy.

      However this current bout of mass psychosis ends for us, it is not going to end well for anyone on the planet.

      Huzzah!
      Jack

      Liked by 1 person

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